Senators Deserve Severe Punishment, But Why Was Michael Andlauer Deceived

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We know the Ottawa Senators are guilty.

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This may be a misrepresentation, deception or dishonesty. Did they withhold information, was it non-disclosure? Or was it a bit of both when they dealt winger Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights over 18 months ago.

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But there’s more to the story than the huge price — a lost first-round draft pick — they’ll pay for their deception, and the firing/resignation of general manager Pierre Dorion on Wednesday.

Perhaps there is more deceit, or at best incompetence, here than meets the eye. We will come back to this a little later.

The story: The Senators dealt Dadonov to Vegas in July 2021. Bad unofficial contract. GOOD. But what happened in that exchange is at the heart of the problem. The Senators did something really, really wrong – something irresponsible or dishonest enough for the NHL to take a first-round pick from them (in one of the 2024, 2025 or 2026 drafts).

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When Vegas attempted to trade Dadonov to Anaheim the following March, they were told the Ducks were on the player’s 10-team untraded list. No-trade list? Um, what no-trade list? Vegas had no idea (you’d really think the Golden Knights would have done their due diligence and read the player’s contract in the months they had him before trying to deal him to the Ducks).

Bottom line: Michael Andlauer, who officially took over as Senators manager a month and a half ago, says the team is at fault and should be held accountable.

There are many unanswered questions, which is often the case when the NHL gets its dirty hands involved in controversy.

Let’s return to Dorion’s sudden departure, announced at a press conference in the middle of the afternoon, but let’s talk about the NHL, which tries so clumsily to control its teams. And let’s talk about the Senators’ seller — the estate of Eugene Melnyk.

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When Andlauer received a call from the NHL last week telling him the Senators were going to be assessed a penalty, he was understandably stunned, especially after initially being told it wasn’t a problem. Andlauer said he discovered there was a grievance during the due diligence process regarding the sale of the team.

“From the seller’s perspective, it really wasn’t a problem,” he said.

Okay, let’s stop there. No exit? Was information withheld from a guy who was about to offer $950 million to buy the team? And, as luck would have it, the NHL lets the new owner settle in a bit, before slamming its fist?

A friend, a long-time hockey fan, said: “Imagine buying a house and later finding out that the owner knew the well was poisoned, but hid this information during the sale. »

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Andlauer continued: “I don’t know if a first round isn’t a problem for you, but it is (a problem) for me.”

To make matters worse, it’s a double whammy. The league also remained silent on an investigation it launched into the playing habits of center Shane Pinto, who has since been suspended for 41 games. Shouldn’t a guy who’s considering investing nearly a billion dollars in buying a team be informed about the issues that matter?

If Andlauer felt like litigation, which the former owner appreciated, he could have his lawyers look into what could be considered a “misrepresentation” about the sale of the senators. He could put the seller and perhaps the league in his crosshairs.

It’s not going to happen. But it must be an eye-opener for a guy who was far removed from the Senators when the shadow happened.

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Andlauer says the NHL shared a 73-page report with him last week.

“This stemmed from actions by our hockey club that were negligent in nature,” Andlauer said, explaining the league’s penalty. “Our duty of care was ignored and this triggered events which embarrassed the league and angered two other clubs. We must be held accountable for our actions. Even though it wasn’t done under my direction, I have to respect the league’s decision. We are responsible for what happened. The severity of this sanction can be disputed, but it could have been avoided.

So why a first-round pick and why did it take the NHL so long to curb the boom?

“That’s a question you should ask the NHL,” Andlauer said. “The commissioner has had plenty of time to deliberate. Two teams wanted a pound of flesh. Why I inherited it is beyond me. There’s no reason for this to last this long. »

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And in the middle of it all is Dorion, the general manager who will be replaced on an interim basis by Steve Staios, named the team’s president of hockey operations a little over a month ago.

Andlauer says it was a mutual separation with Dorion. But if the NHL investigation found that the Senators were dishonest or negligent in their trade negotiations, the GM’s fingerprints are all over it; This is a dismissal offense.

Do we ever see an NHL team get penalized for lacking transparency in a transaction? There has to be some kind of unwritten policy, a code, a trust factor between the general managers. The lines are probably blurry, perhaps there is a gray area where you can distort the truth. But the senators crossed all limits.

There you have it: the Senators don’t have a first-round pick, their reputation has been tarnished, and a guy is unemployed.

At NHL headquarters, it’s always the same thing. And, as far as we know, no one has lost their job.

[email protected]

X: @TimCBaines

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